Google Documents has its problems. Its features are not comprehensive enough for truly serious office work, and it can be a bit slow and finicky when compared to a traditional office program. Still, Google Documents has started a revolution. The ability to access a document from any computer and share it with co-workers is immensely useful.

Microsoft knows this. It has been flat-footed so far, as the company’s investments in the mighty Microsoft Office Suite can’t be turned on (or with) a dime. They are not blind to the situation and to respond, Microsoft has released Microsoft Web Apps, a set of free applications which emulate the functions of Google Documents.

There Is Some Office In My Firefox

Microsoft’s new Web Apps platform is accessed through Windows Live. If you have a Windows Live account you just need to log into it and you’re good to go. If you don’t have a Windows Live account you will need to create one before you gain access.

What Can You Buy For Free?

As you might expect, the functionality of Microsoft Web Apps is limited compared to the complete Microsoft Office suite. You will only be able to use web-based versions of Word, Excel, Powerpoint and OneNote. The functionality of each Web App is limited when compared to the full version, as well. The Word Web App, for example, is only really suitable for basic text editing. You an also add photos and links, but that is about it. You can’t add comments, create annotations or edit footers.

If you already own the Microsoft Office suite, however, you’ll be able to open any Web App document in the full version of Microsoft Office. The value of this feature can’t be overstated. While browser-based office suites are interesting, they are never as smooth or as functional as a office suite installed on your local machine. By integrating the ability to open a Web App document with just one click Microsoft gives Office users the best of both worlds.

The interface of Microsoft’s Web App’s will be immediately familiar if you use Microsoft Office. This means that is better than other popular free suites, like Google Documents and Zoho. Rather than relying on old-fashion drop-down menus, Microsoft Web Apps follows a more modern tabbed design aesthetics. Icons are large and intuitive, and the most frequently needed functions are represented by large buttons which are easy to find. I was able to start using Microsoft Web Apps in no time at all.

A Real Alternative to Google Documents?

It is easy to pigeon-hole Microsoft as the senile old curmudgeon of the tech world, slowly dying as it makes desperate attempts to keep with the times. This portrayal is common (those lovely “I’m a Mac” ads didn’t help) but it is starting to seem inaccurate.

Microsoft’s Web Apps is an extremely solid platform. Its interface is actually better than that of Google Documents in many respects. Microsoft’s Web Apps also feels even quicker than Google Documents, which is by no means a slouch when it comes to speed. I noticed this somewhat when I was using Word, but the biggest speed difference seemed to come in the presentation apps. Microsoft’s Powerpoint Web App felt a lot smoother than Google’s implementation.

It is the integration with the paid version of Office that is killer, however. As an dedicated OpenOffice user, I’m now considering actually purchasing Microsoft Office 2010 just to gain access one-click integration with Microsoft’s Web Apps. If any OpenOffice users out there know a way to enable similar functionality for OpenOffice I’d love to hear it.

As someone who is currently working with M80 (a social media marketing firm) on behalf of Microsoft to promote Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010, it's interesting to see the many different opinions of the Office Web Apps represented here. I'm obviously a biased source but in the past few weeks I've seen these products quickly gain traction and garner a fair amount of positive user comments.

If you're at all interested in learning more about the new products- check out this amusing microsite: http://www.allurebays.com.

As someone who is currently working with M80 (a social media marketing firm) on behalf of Microsoft to promote Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010, it's interesting to see the many different opinions of the Office Web Apps represented here. I'm obviously a biased source but in the past few weeks I've seen these products quickly gain traction and garner a fair amount of positive user comments. If you're at all interested in learning more about the new products- check out this amusing microsite: http://www.allurebays.com.

Not sure how you can claim that Google Docs has its problems, being " not comprehensive enough for truly serious office work", and then compare it to M$'s anemic entrant. Office Live only supports the one type of file format (.docx, .xlsx, etc). Can't save a file to different formats, can't do anything with PDF, no collaboration features other than providing a link to the document, can't e-mail doc as an attachment. Google Docs lets you import and export files in a variety of formats - .doc(x), ODT, RTF, text, html, PDF. I realize this is the first pass at an online office product for M$, but these are pretty basic features. And I don't know how you can say that Office Live's interface is better than Google Doc's - better how? You don't offer anything to support that and I personally think the Office Live interface is just another example of M$ trying to impose a desktop client interface onto the web app in the same way they tried to impose the desktop OS interface on to their Windows Mobile/Phone OS - and that hasn't worked out so well. I think this is just another marketing attempt to try and sucker people into buying an upgrade to their M$ Office package.

There are plugins for OO.o that allow you to sync your documents, spreadsheets, etc with Google Docs. But that's about it regarding integration.I think there are also tools that will sync all your documents in a folder to Docs, too. So you can edit them with OO.o ar whatever you choose and need not worry whethere tey will also be available in the cloud.

But I think there's now way of having that interaction between the web editor and the desktop product. I wouldn't miss it much, anyway. It's just a button that let's you automatically open a document in desktop Office. I wouldn't buy the product justfor that feature, however usefull it might be.

There are plugins for OO.o that allow you to sync your documents, spreadsheets, etc with Google Docs. But that's about it regarding integration.
I think there are also tools that will sync all your documents in a folder to Docs, too. So you can edit them with OO.o ar whatever you choose and need not worry whethere tey will also be available in the cloud.

But I think there's now way of having that interaction between the web editor and the desktop product. I wouldn't miss it much, anyway. It's just a button that let's you automatically open a document in desktop Office. I wouldn't buy the product justfor that feature, however usefull it might be.